Anheuser-Busch management reviewed the company’s strategies to adapt to the changing beer industry environment and reaffirmed the company’s expectation for earnings per share growth for the full year 2007 to exceed its 7 to 10 percent long-term objective,1/ in a presentation given to investors and analysts in New York, according to company’s press release, November 29.

“The last two years have been a period of considerable change in the beer industry and especially at Anheuser-Busch. Anheuser-Busch has taken significant steps to adjust to the changing beer consumer. We have substantially expanded our portfolio. To support this broadened portfolio, we have transformed our selling system to make it both more personal and high tech at the same time. We have also been making changes in marketing and media, with more significant changes planned for next year. Anheuser-Busch is clearly better positioned for long-term growth due to these changes than we were two years ago,” W. Randolph Baker, vice president and chief financial officer of Anheuser-Busch Companies, told the investors.

Baker added that perhaps the most encouraging development in the U.S. beer environment in the last two years has been the acceleration of growth in the consumer demand for beer. Last year, beer industry ...More Info

Hanoi Beer Company (Habeco), Vietnam's second largest brewer, has signed a contract worth USD 41.25 million for the expansion of its Vinh Phuc brewery, according to local press reports, Flexnews reported November 28.

Construction of the plant, which started in July 2006, is to be completed by March 2008. Its capacity at the end of this first phase will be 160 million litres a year. The second phase of the project, which should take 15 months, aims at increasing the plant’s annual capacity to 200 million litres in order to meet fast-growing local demand.

Work on Habeco’s plant will coincide with the building of Habeco and Carlsberg’s joint venture brewery in Southern Vietnam. The plant, near Ho Chi Minh City, will have an initial annual capacity of 500 million litres.

Molson’s brewery in Kitsilano will undergo renovations to increase its brewing and packaging capacity by receiving $32 million, Molson CEO Kevin Boyce announced in Vancouver, according to Marketwire November 29.

The renovations to Molson's Kitsilano brewery - one of the few breweries located in the downtown core of a major North American city - will increase brewing and packaging capacity by 45 per cent, an improvement that will also turn 22 part-time brewery jobs into full-time employment. Seven new fermentation tanks will also be installed, along with a state-of-the-art bottling production line and bottle washer.

"Such a significant upgrade to our Vancouver brewery will further strengthen Molson's local connection in this key market and underscores Molson's commitment to grow market share in British Columbia and Western Canada," said Kevin Boyce, President and CEO, Molson. "As Canada's oldest brewer, Molson is dedicated to contributing to building healthy communities nationwide. Today's donation to one of Vancouver's most important charities is our way of demonstrating that Molson is proud to play our part."

In addition to the brewery renovation announcement, Molson will donate $25,000 to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society, an organization that supplies food to nearly 25,000 people each week in Vancouver, New Westminster, ...More Info

Japan's biggest beer maker Asahi Breweries Ltd. said it will increase its retail beer prices 3-5 percent effective March 1, joining the list of Japanese brewers planning price hikes because of higher raw material costs, Associated Press reported November 30.

The increase will be the first time Asahi has raised prices in 18 years, excluding revisions that followed liquor tax increases.

The current average store price for a 350-milliliter can of regular beer in Japan is 207 yen (US$1.88)

Asahi, Japan's largest brewery in terms of beer shipments per year, said higher costs for imported malt and packaging materials such as aluminum cans and cardboard have exceeded what it can control through cost reduction and other steps.

Last month, rival Kirin Holdings Co. said its brewing unit will raise its beer prices on Feb. 1.

Liquor major Diageo is looking at the possibility of manufacturing Guinness, one of the most successful beer brands, in India, The Hindu Business Line reported November 29.

“We are talking to various breweries. We could manufacture it (Guinness beer) locally,” Diageo India Managing Director, Mr Asif Adil, told Business Line. He said, currently Guinness stout beer sells at Rs 450 per can of 330 ml. Once the company starts manufacturing the beer, the price could come down to Rs 80-Rs 100 for a 750 ml bottle.

Diageo is looking at a share of between 5 and 7 per cent of the total beer market, whose size in volume terms currently is around 120 million cases (consisting of twelve 750 ml bottle each). Guinness now sells about two containers (of 2,400 cases) every month in India. Prospects bright

“Initially we had a toehold approach for the market. But because of the staggering response we have received for the beer, we find a great future for the brand in India,” Mr Adil said.

Mr Adil said with the reduction of additional customs duty, most of the company’s brands have become extremely competitive in the market.

Hence, Diageo wants to push sales of some of its marquee brands aggressively. ...More Info

Latvia is the only country in European Union which is against the increase in beer tax, Oskar Spurdzinsh, Ministry of Finance, said in an interview, according to Leta News, November 30.

The last Latvian ally was Czech Republic, who suddenly accepted the tax increase.

“I don’t know what they promised to Czechs, but we can’t accept these low, we have our producers which interests should be defended”, Spurdzinsh said.

The tax increase will be around 0.6-0.8 centime on 0.5 litre of beer.

Scottish & Newcastle, which announced its defensive plans for remaining independent last week, involving cost-cutting and returning value to shareholders, has 50-50 joint ownership of Baltic Beverage Holdings (BBH), which owns an 86% stake in Baltika Breweries in St Petersburg. It is the future of this venture that is seen as crucial to the outcome of the battle, The Sunday Herald published November 30.

One S&N insider said: "The Scots and Russians get on very well. We've shown that our partnership approach works well. It's been successful for us in India with Vijay Mallya, with our Chinese partners and we've maintained relationships in Russia."

Any major shifting of shareholding in BBH is also likely to attract the attention of Russian president Vladmir Putin, who has taken a personal interest in the creation and building of Baltika beers as one of Russia's most important global brands. When he was mayor of St Petersburg he had a good relationship with the founders of Baltika.

One analyst familiar with the situation said that Carlsberg's bid to take over 100% of BBH would not go down well with Putin, who has powers to enact legislation to stop its ownership moving to Denmark, possibly even to the point ...More Info

Barley market is in expectation of the malt contracts fixation in Europe, La Depeche published November 28. For 2008 crop the market is blocked because of supply lack and fears concerning cold weather impact on Argentinian barley, Argentina being an exporting country.

Adelaide scientists have identified the major gene responsible for boron toxicity tolerance in barley, allowing breeders to select with 100% accuracy barley varieties that are tolerant to boron, Physorg reported November 29.

The discovery was made by a research team led by Dr Tim Sutton of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics at the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the Waite Campus.

The gene, known as Bot1, was first discovered in a boron-tolerant African barley known as Sahara.

Bot1 helps barley plants survive in soils containing high amounts of boron, common to much of Southern Australia, Asia and Africa. The gene works by preventing the entry and accumulation of boron in the plant, which causes the damage and limits growth.

Since the early 1980s scientists have known about the toxic effects of boron on cereal crops in southern Australia.

“Highly boron-tolerant barley landraces (crop varieties) had been previously identified, but nothing was known about the molecular basis of their tolerance,” says Dr Sutton. ‘We used genomics, which is a combination of modern molecular biology techniques, to identify the sequence of the boron-tolerant gene from Sahara, and the underlying molecular mechanism that provides the tolerance.”

“Boron is an essential micronutrient for ...More Info

Having lost its first attempt to end the Canadian Wheat Board's barley monopoly, the Harper government now appears ready to introduce a bill to allow open marketing of the Prairie crop, Winnipeg Free Press reported November 28.

Jeff Nielsen, president of the Western Barley Growers Association, which advocates ending the CWB's monopoly on domestic malt barley and export barley sales, said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told him the Tories are prepared to introduce a bill to deregulate barley marketing.

"I spoke to Minister Ritz this morning, and we have been discussing legislation," Nielsen said Tuesday. "And that is the next step. He said he needs to see changes by Aug. 1 of next year."

Earlier this year, the Conservatives issued a cabinet order that would have ended the wheat board's single desk marketing powers on barley.

But on July 31, a day before the order was to take effect, a Federal Court judge, ruling on an action brought by the wheat board and a group of CWB supporters, quashed the order, saying the government had overstepped its powers and needed to pass legislation to accomplish its objective. The government is appealing the decision to the Federal Court of Appeal, but its arguments may not be ...More Info